Those were a lot of chances to tie the game, give the Angels the lead or, at the very least, keep an inning going and let someone else help out. Instead he left seven men on base, Anaheim lost in extra innings and Hamilton experienced perhaps his worst night in an Angels uniform.

For those of you who want a statistical measure of this badness, note that Hamilton’s Win Probability Added (WPA), which measures how much a player contributed to his team’s win or loss on a given day, was -.477. That means he, all by his lonesome, reduced the Angels’ chances of winning last night’s game by 47.7%.

On the bright side: only four more years to go on that contract after this one.

Yeah…the entire time I was reading this article I was thinking…”David Freese…last night.”
Tough…tough night at the plate for Freese to be sure.
But the great game of Baseball allows him to get back on that horse tonight!

You didn’t even mention the “double” Seattle hit to right that he loped after, only to watch it drop two feet in front of him and short of the warning track. Have you ever seen a recent MVP look this disinterested in your life?

Yep…just last year. He dogged it in Arlington the last four months of 2012, and after dropping the easy pop fly with the Rangers leading the A’s in the last regular season game, he loafed after it like an after dinner stroll with a fully belly. Hamilton is the biggest excuse maker in the game, and will play the Jesus card if you question anything about his play…i.e. “I know Jesus loves me and I answer only to him”. He is the biggest hypocrite in the sports world, and a loser of the biggest magnitude. Angel fans now know what Ranger fans learned the hard way….there is no ‘I’ in team, and there is no ‘team’ in Hamilton. He just does not care about anything but himself, teammates and fans included. That is what happens when you smoke $4,000,000 worth of crack in the few years after he collected his signing bonus.

A little more context on that -.477 WPA. Each team starts the game with .500 Win Probability. The winning team ends up with 1.000 and the losing team with 0.000 (obviously), so by definition the winning team has +.500 WPA and the losing team -.500 WPA. Josh Hamilton accounted for over 95% of the Angels’ win probability lost. It’s not a stretch to say he single-handedly lost them that game.

Interesting. So then would guys like Pujols and Trumbo, who hit home runs, raise the WPA while Bourjos (also never reached base) and Richards (gave up winning run in 1 IP) help bring it to the inevitable zero?

No, knowing the Angels, they’ll probably trade Kaleb Cowart for a big name player in the last year of their contract. Then they’ll watch as Cowart turns into an All-Star and the big name player signs a huge deal with another team. Meanwhile, they’ll sign Robinson Cano, Chase Utley or Jacoby Ellsbury to a gigantic contract of their own and proceed to have them underperform throughout the life of that contract. And I thought last year was frustrating.

I know this is crazy. I understand all sane folks will laugh me out of the room but here is my thought. Would a week or ten days in triple A help this guy? I doubt he’d even accept the offer but look at him. He is completely lost both offensively and defensively. He is hitting .213 with a .269 obp! Clearly he isn’t helping the club and he is actually hurting them.
If I were the GM I would have to consider having this conversation with Hamilton.

I’m not sure that any team would send a player who’s making over $20 million a season down to AAA, no matter how badly he’s performing at the plate. The Angels made their bed between playing obscene amounts of money to Hamilton, Pujols, and Wilson, and now they have to sleep in it.

Between Hamilton, Pujols, Jason Werth, Carl Crawford, etc., etc., etc. maybe these teams will rethink making these obscene contracts. MLB really should follow the NBA’s lead and put a cap on the amount a player can make in a season.

I hardly think a player making $15-20 million a year is considered “punishment.” If you put a cap on the individual player salary you bring loyalty from players back into the game rather than encouraging to chase the extra buck. You also give smaller market teams that can’t afford the $25-30 million contracts the chance to sign good players and be competitive. Don’t worry your little head. Guys like Jayson Werth with his 150 career homers and .250 career BA will still have the chance to make $150 million in their careers.

historiophiliac - Jun 19, 2013 at 12:58 PM

I don’t have a little head. I’m female. And I still fail to see why Miggy Cabrera should get a smaller contract because of Josh Hamilton’s performance.

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged - Jun 19, 2013 at 2:33 PM

If you put a cap on the individual player salary you bring loyalty from players back into the game rather than encouraging to chase the extra buck.

No, you put extra money money back into the owner’s pockets, because its Revenue (X) + Costs (Y) = Profit (Z). If you drive down costs, you increase profit. And where does that money end up?

Also, how is there not loyalty in baseball? For every Pujols/Hamilton we have guys like King Felix, Verlander, Votto, Braun, etc that have signed long term deals with their original teams.

Or is this just a whine?

stex52 - Jun 19, 2013 at 12:57 PM

No, don’t cap the players. If I am an owner, I want my opponents making stupid decisions with their money. It works in my favor over the long run. Ask the GM’s at Tampa Bay and St. Louis (among others).

“Also, how is there not loyalty in baseball? For every Pujols/Hamilton we have guys like King Felix, Verlander, Votto, Braun, etc that have signed long term deals with their original teams.”

I guess you just really didn’t get the point there. Hernandez 7/175 mil. Votto 13/263 mil. Verlander 10/220 mil. Yeah for $200 million I don’t think it’s a question of loyalty. But anyway you still have plenty more players that chase the extra million not just Hamilton and Pujols.

stex52 - Jun 19, 2013 at 3:20 PM

Why should they not be allowed to chase the extra buck? I see no reason to make things easier for billionaire owners. It’s a free market out there. Sure, the salaries are absurd, but the market is there, at least for now. Let someone be the bigger fool.

It’s capitalism and the free market. In fact, if anything, take away the anti-trust exemption and let it be really free.

yahmule - Jun 19, 2013 at 1:30 PM

Can this go on for another 3 1/2 months?

As this may officially be his nadir value-wise, I may investigate just how low people will sell him in roto leagues.